“I won’t,” I managed to say.
She traced a finger around my chin. “Oh, but you will.” Pain shot through me. Distantly, I was aware of Alison shouting, saying something to me, but that was the only thing that I was aware of. There came a strange buildup of heat and a pressure deep within me.
I could practically feel Elaine laughing.
“Do you recognize it?” she said, leaning close. “If you had any control over it, perhaps you would. But you don’t, do you?” She laughed again. “It won’t be long now. He has been calling it.”
“If he’s been calling it, then why have we not seen it?” Barton asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s get this over with. We don’t have far to go. We can keep heading south along the stream here, and then we can get back to our lands,” Barton said. “There’s nothing else in the forest for us to find. It’s time to take our prize and return.”
Their lands.
Not Vard lands.
“Like I said, I won’t be long,” Elaine said. She turned her attention back to me.
The pain was incredible. It was unlike anything that I had ever experienced before. I could only focus on the pain, nothing else. It seemed to consume me. I struggled to move, to do anything, but as I lay there, there was nothing more than the agony washing through me.
Elaine leaned close. Her breath was warm, and it smelled of strange spices. “I might keep you for myself once we reach our lands. You will be trained no differently than that creature.”
The pressure building within me was intense. It, combined with the needles jabbing into my skin, felt as if I needed to do something to release it. Anything. It was almost too much for me to handle.
Elaine laughed. “I can feel it building within you,” she said. “Call the creature to you.”
“He can’t!” Alison shouted.
Everything around me was a blur. The glowing light was near, but not so bright that I could see everything else. I could hear Alison, and I wanted to cry out to her, to tell her to run, but even if I was able to get the words out, I didn’t know if they would reach her the way that they needed to. I didn’t know if there was anything that she would be able to do. I didn’t know if she could escape.
I had to help. Somehow, I had to fight through the pain. I had to knock Elaine down, then attack the Vard. I would do anything to protect my sister. My family. I would do anything to keep them safe. That pressure continued to build within me.
I opened my mouth to cry out.
A rumbling exploded near us.
The pressure on me eased, if only a little bit. The needles jabbing into my skin suddenly abated, and I blinked, tears streaming from my eyes as my vision cleared briefly. It was long enough that I could see a dark shadow blurring nearby. The Vard cried out, and then there came the sound of metal on metal, fighting all around us.
For a moment, I saw figures in dark green cloaks carrying strange circular weapons, slashing at the other men.
We’d seen them before.
The men slipped through the forest, moving soundlessly. There was only one thing they could be. The Djarn. And they were here.
More than that—they were helping.
I staggered to my feet. I turned to Elaine.
Her back was to me so I shoved her. She staggered, sprawling forward.
I stumbled toward Alison and Joran.
I could see them as little more than blurs.
“We need to run,” I said, looking back to see if there was any other sign of the Djarn, but I couldn’t see them. They were gone, but the others with Elaine were gone as well.
“What happened to you?” Alison asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
They both slipped their arms around me, and we started running. We hadn’t run for very long before the pain shot through me again. The pressure was building as well.
I pushed Joran and Alison forward. “Go. I’ll catch up to you.”
“We’re not leaving you,” Alison said.
“I don’t—”
Pain shot through me, it was more than I could tolerate.
I tried to turn, but that pain was shooting through me in a way that I couldn’t handle. Alison reached for me, trying to lift me to my feet, but it was as if all of my strength had faded.
I staggered. Distantly, I was aware of Elaine coming toward me.. That pressure was building up within me again. The glowing light seemed to be everywhere around me, consuming everything.
She laughed again. “Good. You are calling to it. I can feel it coming this time. Once I have it, then I can remove the blasted Djarn. The king is wrong about them. They are a threat, but I know how to stop them.”
“Stop hurting him,” Alison said.
I heard her gasp, and then Joran’s frenzied cries.
Not my sister.
Not Joran.
The pressure building within me became almost too much.
I needed to release it. There had to be some way for me to let that pressure go. I tried to turn toward Elaine. She was nearby. I could smell her strange scent. The sound of the rumbling of the mesahn was there as well. If I could bide my time long enough for the mesahn to reach me…
That was assuming the mesahn would help. I wouldn’t be able to end this. I felt the agony of the needles jabbing into me, the agony of the pain that rocked me, and nothing else. I was aware of nothing more than pain.
I looked up. Tears streamed down my eyes.
For a moment, the light around me began to clear but then it faded.
I needed that light.
I couldn’t see without it. I needed to be able to see. I needed to be able to target Elaine.
